What is Safe Mode
How to boot in Safe Mode
What to do if the computer can only be booted in Normal Mode
What to do if the boot menu is not displayed after pressing the F8 button
What is Safe ModeSafe Mode is a diagnostic mode of Windows operating systems allowing to identify errors related to software or hardware malfunctions.
Safe Mode enables only the minimum of components:
- a minimum (basic) set of drivers;
- standard system services.
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How to boot in Safe Mode- Eject all diskettes and CD/DVD disks from computer drives;
- Click Start > Shut down > Restart;
- Press F8 before Windows logo appears on the display:
- If you have more that one operating system installed on the computer, select the desired one and press F8;
- In some hardware configurations, F8 serves for selecting a bootable physical drive. In this case, you should select the hard disk with the operating system installed, press Enter and immediately F8.

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What to do if the computer can only be booted in Normal Mode
In some cases the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot] registry branch may get damaged. This branch is responsible for booting the operating system in Safe Mode. When this branch is damaged, the computer may get BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) when attempting to boot in Safe Mode.
To restore the SafeBoot registry branch:
- Download and extract the WinSafeBoot.zip archive on the problematic computer;
- Run the .reg file that corresponds to the installed operating system:
- Windows 2000 - SafeBootWin2000.reg;
- Windows XP (32 and 64 bit) - SafeBootWinXP.reg;
- Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit) - SafeBootWinVista.reg;
- Windows 7(32 and 64 bit) - SafeBootWin7.reg;
- Windows 2003 (32 and 64 bit) - SafeBootWin2003.reg;
- Windows 2008 (32 and 64 bit) - SafeBootWin2008.reg.
- Click OK.
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What to do if the boot menu is not displayed after pressing the F8 button
If the boot menu is not displayed for some reason after pressing the F8 button, and the system boots in Normal Mode:
- Click Start > Run > type in msconfig and click OK;
- Go to the BOOT.INI tab;
- Check the /SAFEBOOT box in the Boot Options section;

- Click OK;
- Select Restart when prompted.
When done with troubleshooting in the Safe Mode, you should disable the /SAFEBOOT option and boot in Normal Mode.
- For Windows Vista / 7 / 2008:
- Click Start > Run > type in msconfig and press Enter;
- Go to the Boot tab;
- Check the Safe boot box in the Boot Options section;

- Click OK;
- Select Restart when prompted.
When done with troubleshooting in the Safe Mode, you should disable the Safe boot option and boot in Normal Mode.
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